The day started out cloudy and cold. Don was on the radio listening to the weather forecast. The weather was ok today, but was supposed to get worse tomorrow. We had spend the night in Bullock's Harbor in The Berry Islands (Bahamas). The sail in the night before had been strange. It was very shallow, and we were watching our speed by shining a flashlight at the sea bottom and watching our movement over past the rocks, grass, and fish... When we finally got into the Harbor we could hear all the local residents whooping it up at the bars watching the Superbowl. This island was rather remote, and the Don did not want to get stuck here for several nights if the weather turned bad. As such he made the executive decision to head out toward the Abacos.
The sail was a little cool, but the weather held. The problem was our arrival time. We ended up off the south end of the Abacos at about 10 PM in the dark. We had never been here before, and as such were not familiar with the island and all it's harbor's or entrances. By the time we made it up the east side of the island it was about midnight. That was when we discovered that the entrance to Little Harbor was not lit with markers. This is probably because NO ONE in their right mind decides to enter through a reef at night. My last visual sighting was several hours ago off the south end of the island. I had to trust the GPS and my map cross references. To add to the fun was the fact that we were in 6 foot seas in the open Atlantic. The entrance was between exposed reef and rock, less than 100 yards wide. Did I mention that it was dark?
I have not told many people, but serious fear tastes like copper in your mouth. We creep closer. You can hear the waves breaking on the beach. I can taste stomach acid... We work close in, all the music is off, everyone is silent. Most of the crew is forward looking for markers.
Finally Steve finds a marker. It matches the chart. We get a little closer. We see the other side. Now I breather a little easier. We work our way through the entrance. Once inside the barrier reef, we head South toward Little Harbor. I have never been happier to drop anchor and lay down to bed. When we wake up, we discover a tiki bar just South of us in Little Harbor. After breakfast we all head in for an attitude adjustment. The view from over the rise looking out at the Atlantic makes Captain Don's decision appear very wise. The seas are building and there are white caps everywhere. We definitely would have been stuck in the Berry Islands. Looks like a good day to spend some time at Pete's! The trip to the North toward Hope Town is mostly protected, so no worries!
Life is an adventure, get out there and live it!
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